1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for displaying flight information to aid in the piloting of an aircraft.
2. Discussion of the Background
It is known that, to aid a pilot of an aircraft, for example of a transport plane, to manage the piloting, it is customary for the values of parameters which are representative of the flight, such as the speed of the aircraft, to be presented on a particular indicator or a piloting screen (such as a PFD (“Primary Flight Display”) screen for example).
On a PFD piloting screen there is depicted, in general, in this case, in addition to the speed, a minimum allowable limit value for this speed. This minimum value or speed (which can vary as a function of diverse parameters) corresponds to the maximum allowable angle of incidence, beyond which the aircraft is subject to a stalling phenomenon. When he wishes to engage a maneuver, a pilot can visually check the margin available between the current speed of the aircraft and the limit value. If this margin tends to become zero, he knows that his action on a control stick is at risk of not being able to be carried out correctly by the aircraft (risk of stalling or activation of the protection facilities of the flight control laws).
On certain aircraft, the pilot is furnished with a “head up” viewfinder HUD (“Head Up Display”), on which is displayed the direction of the speed vector of the aircraft. The document U.S. Pat. No. 5,808,563 describes for example such a viewfinder. The use of this viewfinder is especially suited to the take-off and landing phases. However, it exhibits drawbacks during the other phases of flight. For example, when piloting a military aircraft by sight, at low altitude, the speed vector, superimposed on the view of the outside world through the windshield, indicates the point toward which the aircraft is directed, without however being representative of the magnitude of the speed. The pilot is therefore furnished with instrument-based piloting information in the HUD viewfinder so as to maneuver the aircraft correctly under conditions demanding sustained attention to the outside environment (for example: presence of nearby reliefs), without having to avert his gaze from this environment visible through the windshield. He is thus furnished with information depicted on the HUD viewfinder.
However, the pilot is not furnished with the information depicted on the PFD piloting screen. Specifically, for reasons on the one hand of clarity and of readability of the information and, on the other hand, of visibility through the windshield, it is not desirable to present all the information on the HUD viewfinder. In particular, the current speed of the aircraft and the limit value of the speed cannot be depicted clearly as on a PFD piloting screen. Yet, when the margin between these two items of speed information is disregarded, if the pilot attempts for example to pitch the nose of the aircraft up (by pulling on the control stick) in order to clear a relief although this margin is already substantially zero, the aircraft will not be able to respond to this action and will not modify its trajectory as desired, thus running the risk of striking the relief.